'Zero Dark Director' on Torture-Gate: Don't Blame Me, Blame Bush

Director Kathryn Bigelow, whose film Zero Dark Thirty stands at the eye of a cultural storm involving harsh interrogation tactics, offers a vibrant defense of the First Amendment in a new op-ed.

It’s the kind of patriotic message we don’t hear enough of these days.

Bigelow also makes sure we all blame the Bush administration for the interrogation methods which may have led to capturing Osama bin Laden. After all, Bigelow’s piece is mainly about preserving the chances Zero Dark Thirty, the film documenting the hunt for bin laden, will win a Best Picture Oscar next month.

First of all: I support every American’s 1st Amendment right to create works of art and speak their conscience without government interference or harassment. As a lifelong pacifist, I support all protests against the use of torture, and, quite simply, inhumane treatment of any kind.

But I do wonder if some of the sentiments alternately expressed about the film might be more appropriately directed at those who instituted and ordered these U.S. policies, as opposed to a motion picture that brings the story to the screen.